When Angela Missoni’s collection for Mission fall 2009 debuted earlier yesterday during Milan Fashion Week, one could tell that the designer found her groove. Perhaps due to the past few years of shifting personalities, it seems Angela stretched her creative muscles and said, “Yes, this is me, this is Missoni.” What she presented was a marvelous celebration of the house’s famous knitwear. Let it be known that knitwear is one of the most lucrative niches in the fashion industry at the moment. The history behind Missoni and its retro influences truly differentiate it from what some of the younger designers are doing–especially true now after seeing London Fashion Week.

The luxe layers and cardigans, the flowing fringed scarves, the scrunched slim pants (I would never call these leggings), fur accenting head wraps, big loops on sweater jackets in maroon, Prussian blue, gold, and burnt sienna, and salmon are mesmerizing. If there is a recession happening, it skipped over the Missoni house. “‘I wanted to show Missoni has a passion for fashion,'” Angela told Suzy Menkes of IHT. Well said. Watch the interview here and here are some key looks:

FASHION>>ARMANI

What happened at Armani? From one look to the next, the collection is at times glam and other times forced . If Giorgio is feeling his age and wanted to try to stick it to the rest of the biz, I would say he did far from stellar. The collection is flashy–even for a collection bound to end up at red carpets and chic parties–and can we let the ’80s be dead and gone? The patent leather newsboy hats tended to cheapen some of his looks. This collection left me on the fence; I do like his palette of greys, black and stone but let’s go to the pictures:

first look with those hats is meh:

gawdy:

uh:

but it can be classy:

with soft, flowing hair and minimal accessories, these gowns would cause less visual overload:

what happened here? randomly placing two flowers and that braided belt/sash doesn’t add to the dress, looks like an afterthought:

but clearly, with minor tweaking, it can be better… why the throwaway looks?

ART>>ROBBIE CONAL

The luscious folks at Wooster Collective sent this great video out in the latest newsletter; L.A.-based Robbie Canal is a street artist and activist, who brings a smile to my face when he talks about his art and, basically, perspective on life. Watch here>>

And who can forget the first song “1901” from the highly-anticipated/I-cannot -wait-another-minute-please-Gawd upcoming spring release from Phoenix?

Lisa Shaw has a new album Free out on March 10th, and while I love her background in the house scene, the new songs feature a lovely soul vibe. I heard her this morning on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” and had to track down the woman behind the voice. Originally from Toronto, Shaw is blending musical genres and surmounting trends to present a decidedly unique and thus, refreshing sound.